Goodman: There’s Lots Of Excitement And Some Good Edge

Ireland backs coach Andrew Goodman says it is ‘great to be part of a last week where there’s plenty of the line’, as a fascinating ‘Super Saturday’ climax to the Guinness Men’s Six Nations awaits this weekend.

Goodman’s first experience of coaching in a Six Nations Championship last year saw Ireland win the Triple Crown, three matches in, before a chastening home defeat to eventual champions France derailed their title bid in the penultimate round.

They come into the decisive stage of the 2026 Six Nations in virtually the same position – sitting in third place with a two-point gap to France and Scotland, their opponents on Saturday – but this feels quite different with the Triple Crown, and potentially the Championship, still up for grabs at the Aviva Stadium.

With the Celtic rivals both having silverware to play for, the opening game of the last round is expected to produce fireworks, and Ireland’s burning desire for a big crowd-pleasing finale is certainly evident in the build-up.

“You can come in together back on Sunday night, Monday morning into training, and you can just feel the edge around the place. It’s a nice feeling to be,” said Goodman, when asked about the ‘cup final’ feel to this week.

“It’s where we all want to be. The players and the management group want to be part of these big games that have got real importance to them.

“There’s lots of excitement, a little bit of nerves, as you can imagine, and some good edge around the place.”

While the campaign started on a disappointing note for them in Paris, Andy Farrell’s men have been gathering momentum with each passing round, most notably when posting a record away win over England. They held off an improving Wales side last Friday for their third victory in a row.

Looking at the Irish attack, they are the joint-third top try scorers after four rounds with 14. Their most productive period has been the 20 minutes after half-time, during which they have crossed the whitewash five times. Interestingly, it is also the quarter that Scotland have scored their most tries in (6).

Eight of Ireland’s tries have originated from lineouts, with four from tap penalties, and two from turnover ball. Goodman wants the clinical and fluid attacking display they delivered in London to be the benchmark for the Triple Crown decider and beyond into the inaugural Nations Cahmpionship.

“On the attack, it was great to see the boys express themselves (against England), to get the ball to space, to see big Stu (McCloskey) at the line offloading the ball, creating for our attack, to see Jamison (Gibson-Park) running with the ball from nine, to see Robert Baloucoune using his speed – speed on speed with Tommy O’Brien.

“It was just nice to see boys expressing themselves, and I suppose showing a bit of their uniqueness is what we want to encourage as coaches.

“We want to try and get back to that level, but we want to use that as a benchmark that we can grow from. If you look at the Wales performance, we weren’t quite as sharp with of our work off the ball.

“That was something that was really impressive against England. We were working off the ball hard, which meant we were seeing pictures early, communicating things really well, and then off the back you execute really well. So we’ll be driving that this week.”

With plenty at stake for both sides, the New Zealander is urging the Ireland players to rise to the occasion, knowing what a boost it would be to win the Triple Crown on home soil, particularly for the ten Six Nations debutants in the extended squad, including new caps Edwin Edogbo and Nathan Doak.

Ireland have won eight Triple Crowns in the Six Nations era, the most of any team. That includes three in the last four seasons. Irish rugby history is closely connected to it, the most indelible success coming against Scotland at the old Lansdowne Road in 1982 when Ollie Campbell kicked the hosts to their first Triple Crown in 33 years.

During Eddie O’Sullivan’s coaching tenure, Ireland won three Triple Crowns in four years, clinching their first one of the 21st century against Scotland in Dublin in 2004 when Gordon D’Arcy, the player of the Championship, scored two tries in a memorable 37-16 triumph.

Speaking about the build-up to Saturday’s crunch encounter, Goodman admitted: “It’s an amazing buzz. It’s great to be part of a last week when there’s plenty on the line. To get a Triple Crown, which we know is a huge thing for Ireland as a nation.

“We know we didn’t get the performance we were chasing down (against Wales), but it creates a good edge for the week. It is what’s in our control, and that’s the performance.

“We know there’s a Triple Crown within our control, and then who knows what’s going to happen the way this competition’s been going. What a great advertisement for the game.

“I think it has to be one of the best Six Nations for a long time, with the competition week to week, so it’s been great to be part of.”

While injuries have impacted some of Farrell’s selection decisions, he kicked off the Six Nations by making seven personnel changes to the team that lost to South Africa in November. The following weeks, there have been six, five, and five changes to the Ireland starting XV respectively.

Goodman was giving little away as regards the likely team line-up to face Scotland, although he did acknowledged that Farrell has ‘created real competition within the group’ with his selection calls, and that there are going to be ‘some really tough decisions to be made’ for the round 5 fixture.

What he is certain of is that Scotland will be top quality opponents, coming to the home of Irish Rugby with their tails up after ending France’s Grand Slam hopes with a stunning 50-40 success, a result which gives them a shot at their first Championship title since 1999, and a first Triple Crown in 36 years.

“It was good to watch. As a rugby fan, I enjoyed watching the game. 50-40, what a score! Plenty going on. I thought they’d done a great job in terms of their attacking the ball to space and expressing themselves.

“I’m sure they’ll come here with lots of belief and confidence around what they’ve been able to do over the last three weeks after a tough start like we had as well.

“Listening to what they’re saying as a group, their belief is as high as it’s ever been, according to everything that’s coming out of the group. So it should be. As I said, the way they’ve performed over the last three weeks, it’s been good rugby,” he added.